Card feeding mechanism



Jufiy 6, W48. E. H. GROGAN CARD FEEDING MECHANISM Original Filed Feb. 26, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VEN TOR. [LME IE 1-,- 4120911 July 6, 1948. E. H. GROGAN 5 CARD FEEDING MECHANISM Original Filed Feb. 2a, 945 2 Sheets-Shet 2 IN V EN TOR. lit/'16? H- EOQA N B w r 1*"1'7 141 we Ms ms Patented July 6, 1948 CARD. FEEDING MECHANISM ElmenH Grogan; Danville-, Ill:

Original application February 26', 1945,lSeriaLNo.

579,719.; Divided and this application .Septem-. ber..7, 1945,,Serial No. 615,003,

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to an apparatus for feeding articles such as sensitized cards to machines for printing photographs in large -quantities from a single negative, group of negatives or plate.

The machineis automatic and requires a minis mum of attention. It .is a feature of the improvements that the apparatus canbe adjusted to synchronize the feeding of the cards witht-he various other operations which must be performed in the course of the printing .step, including feeding the card, exposing it; and releasing it from the machine. Numerous machines have been used for this purpose, but, they are subject to disadvantages which have been eliminated or minimized by my present improvedvmachine.

It is an object of my invention to provide a bulksupply of vsensitized cards at a point from which these cards may be automatically picked up and suppliedto an exposure or printing zone.

The invention is. illustrated and maybe understood by reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a perspective view partly in section of a photo-printing machine, the view being from the left and front thereof.

Figure 2 isia view in perspective partly. in section of the. card magazine and pickup mecha-v nism, and the parts by which these various. elements are driven... It is taken, from. the right and front ofthe machine, i.-e., the. side opposite that shownin Figure 1 Referring to Figure 1, acontaineruor magazine for holding a bulkzsupply of cards ii is -indicated at). It should bennoted that thisubox is placed at an angle out of the. perpendicular so'that the cards ll willrtendlto remainlin. a compact mass by their own. weight. The vcards are held in, position and forced towardthefront of the magazine by a follower l2. (See.Fig.2.) The follower is moved by meansiof the automatic mechanism illustrated in Fig 2.. This mecha-. nism comprises ashaftlS driven'by pulley. 14, which in turnvmay be driven by -a beltc assing v aroundia pulley M on the main. power shaft Two pulleys ofdiiferent diameter may be pro.- videdwto change the speed of the follower to com:-- pensate for the use ofysingle or double: weight sensitized cards: which differ: in thickness The shaftv 3 may be supported I on tha -main;- body of: the frame by means! of. an adjustable support I5 The-corresponding support; atthe-opposite endof-shaft l3 and-brackets for supporting the magazine are not illustrated in interests of simplific'ation." Shaftl3 is journaled in-bearing '16, which is supported-by bracket ll. When pulley I4 is driven, shaft I3-turns worm I8, driving pinion |9, thereby turning threaded shaft 20 which is journaled in brackets 2 l: and 22, which-in turn are fastened-to the frame of bulk supply box 10.

Supported onsha-ft 20 is a threaded member 23 which is attached'to a bracket Qtwhich in turn'passesthrough a slot in the. sideof box ill and'is attached to follower-12. Member-23 comprises threaded jaws; not illustrated, atthe respective ends of wings 25and 26 which are pivoted at 21. The wingsa-reheld apart-by a spring under-compression so that the threads on the jaws are kept-in-mesh withthe threads on shaft 20-; The-jaws can bereleased b compressing wings '25-- and '26 and the follower IZ may be shiftedfrom one position to another along shaft 20'. This permits theoperator to refillthe box by merely releasing the jaws of member 23 and sliding the entire assembly to the back of the box'and then placingthe cards in 'pesitionin front of'the follower.- Theoperator can adjust the position of the follower to its proper place by'moving' it along shaftzll until the bulk supply of cards have been pushed firmly against wings 28 and 29 at the forward end of the magazine and-thus properly located'to befed in a manner hereinafter described; A wing corresponding to 28 is located on the other'side of the box. These project just enough to prevent-the cards from falling'out of the box; especially when .thepickup mechanism is operatingaz.

The entire magazine is tilted backward so: that the cards willbe inpropenpositionto be picked upby the mechanismzabout"to be described. There is an additional advantage that the cards tend;.to.: stay packed even;whenthe follower is released, which is" important.v with sensitized cards. When: the foremost card'aisx picked up by means/of the suction.=.pickup vapparatusit is bent "slightly at; the sides. and bottom: as it passes these projections 28 and 2Q1.so=that a positive pulling, action; must. be exertedto 1 remove v.it. Thus it is assured zthatsonly one card at a time can possibly befed to the feeding :chuteai This is a marked advantage -JOV8IZOC11B1 feeding; devices using :mechanical 1 feeders; If anything happens to the pickup mechanism; noicards" are fed; A condition can never: exist..- .in: which m'orem than ones-card is fed at onetime:,-

Thevszcardsrare picked up. byrmeans of suction cupsr3l1 :which-are attached .toevacuumrilinesra Ii The suction cups are made of rubber or other resilient material. The vacuum lines are rigidly secured in rocker arm 32. The position of the suction cups may be adjusted b sliding the lines forward or backward in the journal 33 passing through bracket 32. After the position has been properly adjusted, they may be held by means of set screws or other suitable means.

During operation, the suction cups 39 press against the foremost card in the box due to the forward motion of arm 32. At this moment, lines 3i are evacuated by opening valve 3i from a suitable vacuum source. Vacuum sufficient is supplied to hold the foremost card firmly and to pull it out of the box as arm 32 moves away from box Ill. When the arm has traveled far enough to pull the card past wings 28 and lip 29, the vacuum valve closes and the pressure in line 3| is restored to atmospheric through a relief valve. A cam on shaft 45 operates the valve iii.

The card no longer being held by vacuum cups 30 is released and drops down the chute. A tapered hopper comprising sidewalls 34 and vertical guide wings 34 leads the dropped card into chute 35. In order to prevent the card from falling out of the chute, guide wings 34 are placed parallel to the feeding chute 35, which likewise is equipped with wings to guide the card during its downward fall into proper position for later operations. to be performed upon it. Also, to assist in this operation and to be certain that the card falls into its proper position, the machine is preferably tilted slightly to one side or the other by setting the mechanism at an angle. As illustrated in the drawing, the machine is tilted to left so that the card tends to slide along the left hand side of the chute. The chute 35 is otherwise substantially vertical except that it leans to the left. If there is any slope, it should be such that the card will rest along the back of chute 35 as it falls, for example by raising the front of the machine slightly or building it with a slight pitch toward the rear.

Reciprocating arm 32 is keyed to a shaft 36 which is journaled in a bracket 31 attached to the frame of the machine. Also keyed to shaft 36 is arm 38 which is shaped to conform to a cam 39. The cam in turn is keyed to a shaft 4B which is supported pivotally in brackets 41 attached to the frame of, the machine. Shaft 46 is rocked back and forth by means of rocker arm 42 rigidly attached to shaft and pivotally attached to link 43, which in turn is pivoted to bell crank 44 which is driven from the main power shaft 45, and as illustrated, is journaledin bracket 46 attached to the frame of the machine. When the bell crank 44 is revolving, it imparts a reciprocating motion through link 43 and arm 42 to cam 39, which in turn imparts a rocking motionto arms 38 and 32. Thus with each revolution of bell crank 44, the suction cups 30 move forward to pick up a card and then move backward into position to drop the card down the chute 35. 'It is in this manner that the cards are fed one at a time down the chute.

The pitch of the threads on shaft 20 and member 23 are such that the follower I2 is moved forward a distance equivalent to the thickness of one cardduring each revolution of shaft 45. The size of pulley I4 is chosen depending upon the thickness of the card used, or as before mentioned, a second pulley of different size may be placed on the shaft so that a quick change can be made merely by shifting the belt. This permits a change in the speed at which shaft 20 is rotated,

and consequently the speed at which follower l2 moves along the supply box.

Spring 41 is attached to the frame and to arm 32 in order to pull it forward when the cam 39 is in position for the cards to be picked up.

The rocking motion imparted to shaft 40 likewise imparts a rocking motion to arm 48, which is keyed to shaft 40 and to link 49, which is pivoted to arm 48 which'actuates the mechanism for stopping and releasing the cards, exposing them and finally discharging them. The illustrated apparatus is fully described in the above mentioned patent application and its operation is synchronous with that of the card feeder.

The above described and illustrated device is one preferred form of the invention but it is not intended to be limited exactly to the form shown.

I claim as my invention:

1. A card feeding device comprising in combination, a support, a main drive shaft mounted thereon, a second drive shaft, power transmission-means from said main drive shaft to said second shaft, a threaded shaft mounted for rotation, speed reducing gearing on said second shaft and said threaded shaft thereby to drive the latter at a reduced speed, a card magazine having an opening in the front thereof for removing cards, a hopper mounted in front of said opening, a card follower mounted in the magazine, adjustable threaded means mounted on said follower operatively engaging said threaded shaft thereby to advance said follower in the magazine when said shaft is rotated, a bell crank fixed to said drive shaft, a rocker arm, a link connecting said bell crank and said arm thereby to impart rocking motion to the latter, a rocker shaft fixed to said rocker arm, a cam attached to said shaft, a cam follower operatively engaging said cam, a second rocker shaft attached to the cam follower thereby to receive rocking motion, a vertical arm attached to the second rocker shaft, a vacuum cup attached to said vertical arm, said cup being spaced from the arm and mounted in front of the opening in the magazine, said cup receiving reciprocating motion toward and away from said opening when said vertical arm is moved due to the motion of the second rocker shaft, a duct connecting said cup with a source of vacuum, means synchronous with the movement of said drive shaft to alternately evacuate the cup when in position to contact a card in the opening in said magazine and to release the vacuum when the cup is away from the opening, thereby to remove a card from the magazine and release it into the hopper; said combination arranged and adapted so that said vacuum cup reciprocates once for each rotation of said main drive shaft, and said card follower is caused to advance a distance corresponding to the thickness of one card for each such rotation.

2. A card feeding device comprising in combination a card magazine, a main drive shaft, a device for maintaining cards in pick up position in the magazine, card pick up means, both of the latter synchronously actuated by said drive shaft, said. card maintaining device comprising a threaded shaft, speed reducing power transmission means operatively connecting said drive shaft and said threaded shaft, a card follower, threaded means attached to the follower engaging the threaded shaft whereby to advance said follower a distance equal to the thickness of one card for each revolution of thedrive shaft, means whereby said threaded means may be adjusted to engage saidthreaded shaft at any point over its length; said card pick up comprising a bell crank attached to said main drive shaft, 9. link pivotally attached to the crank, a rocker arm attached pivotally to the link, a first rocker shaft fixedly attached to the arm, a cam fixed to the rocker shaft, a cam follower operatively engaging said cam, a second rocker shaft fixedly attached to said cam follower thereby to receive rocking motion, a pickup arm fixed to the second rocker shaft, a vacuum cup attached to said pickup arm and spaced therefrom toward said magazine, said cup receiving reciprocating motion toward and away from the magazine when the pick-up arm rocks; means for mounting said follower in said magazine, a card removal opening at one end of said magazine, said opening being slightly smaller than a card to be held in said magazine, a hopper in front of said opening, said hopper opening into a duct into which said card is to be dropped, guides to lead said card into said duct, said vacuum cup mounted directly in front of said opening in position to contact a card therein at the forwardmost position, and to release such a card into the hopper in its position farthest from the opening, duct means connecting said cup with a source of vacuum, valve means in said duct controlled by the movement of said drive shaft to supply vacuum at the forwardmost position of the cup to pick up a card, and to release the vacuum at a position remote from the magazine to drop said card into the hopper.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the speed reducing transmission comprises a worm gear.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the magazine is tilted with the opening at the higher end. i

5. The apparatus of claim 1. wherein the meg azine is tilted with the opening at the higher end, and also tilted to one side.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the threaded shaft is supported externally on one side of the magazine, the magazine is slotted parallel with the shaft, and the adjustable threaded means attached to the follower extends through said slot to operatively engage the shaft.

ELMER H. GROGAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 284,483 Richards Sept. 4, 1883 380,774 Stevens Apr. 10, 1888 727,692 Rodgers May 12, 1903 807,059 Carter Dec. 12, 1905 845,907 Tyden Mar. 5, 1907 880,647 Fletcher Mar. 3, 1908 912,771 Angel Feb. 16, 1909 1,373,187 Freeman Mar. 29, 1921 1,457,830 Gerhardt June 5, 1923 1,584,713 Barbieri May 18, 1926 1,693,986 Kluge et a1. Dec. 4, 1928 1,717,695 LaBombard et a1. June 18, 1929 1,748,572 Johnson et a1 Feb. 25, 1930 1,982,823 Meredith Dec. 4, 1934 2,076,186 Reynolds et a1. Apr. 6, 1937 2,081,958 Root June 1, 1937 2,138,306 Patrick Nov. 29, 938 2,369,914 LaBombard Feb. 20, 1945 

